When Arkansas Tech University was left out of last year’s NCAA Division II women’s basketball tournament, head coach Dave Wilbers immediately set out to make sure the selection committee would not overlook his Golden Suns again in 2013.

After beefing up the nonconference schedule and making it through an improved Great American Conference with a 23-6 overall record, ATU is back in the Big Dance as a No. 5 seed in the Central Regional.

The Golden Suns will face the fourth-seeded Minnesota State-Mankato Mavericks (25-5) at 8 p.m. today in the first round at Lee Arena in Topeka, Kan., on the campus of top-seeded Washburn University.

This is the 11th NCAA Tournament since 1998 for Arkansas Tech, and the fourth time Wilbers has coached the Golden Suns to the Big Dance in six seasons.

“The biggest way we responded was with our challenging nonconference schedule,” Wilbers explained when asked about any motivation his program might have derived from being left out of the 2012 NCAA Tournament despite a 22-4 record. “There were times during the season that our schedule was rated as the toughest in the country. Our conference also really picked it up this year, and that helped our strength of schedule. Of course, you always have to win games to make the regional. This will be a very difficult field this weekend. The team that comes out of this regional will have a chance to win it all.”

ATU has won 11 straight, 16 of its last 17 and is the regular-season and postseason GAC champion. Seniors Jessica Weatherford and Rosie Silva are a big reason why Arkansas Tech won its 23rd regular-season championship and earned its 31st 20-win season in the 36-year history of the women’s basketball program.

Weatherford, a senior forward from Bonnerdale (16.1 points, 7.6 rebounds per game), was most valuable player at the GAC Tournament and a first-team All-GAC selection this season.

Silva, a senior point guard from Caracas, Venezuela (15.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 4.9 steals per game), was the GAC regular-season player of the year and defensive player of the year, as well as a member of the All-GAC Tournament team.

Minnesota State-Mankato is in the NCAA Division II Tournament for the second straight year and fourth time in the last six years. The Mavericks won the 2009 national championship with a 32-2 record.

Ranked 17th in this week’s Women’s Basketball Coaches Association NCAA Division II top 25 poll, MSU-Mankato saw a 14-game winning streak come to an end with an 81-73 loss to Augustana College in Saturday’s championship game of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament (NSICT).

“(MSU-Mankato) does a great job of running transition offense,” said Wilbers said. “That makes them difficult to prepare for. They make nice outlet passes, and all of their players do a good job of running the floor. We have to contain their transition. It will probably be an up-tempo game. I expect there to be a lot of scoring.”

The Mavericks rank among the national leaders in scoring offense (8th, 76.8 points per game), turnover margin (8th, +6.37 per game), field goal percentage (13th, .439) and 3-point field goals (15th, 7.4 per game).

“They use (Wilkinson) in a variety of ways,” Wilbers said. “She can shoot the 3-pointer. She’s a very skilled post player. I am very impressed with the overall skill level of their team. They handle the basketball well and play very good man-to-man defense. It will be a good challenge, but once you make the tournament and a regional like this one, everybody is going to have a tough game.”

Tonight’s winner will advance to Saturday’s 7 p.m. regional semifinal against either top-seeded Washburn University or No. 8 seed Emporia State. The Central Regional championship game will tip off at 7 p.m. Monday.

Tonight’s game can be heard on KWKK 100.9 FM and online at athletics.atu.edu.

Silva earns all-region honor

On the heels of a stellar senior season where she was named both the GAC player and defensive player of the year, Silva was named to the Daktronics All-Region second team Thursday.

Silva is the lone GAC player to earn an all-region selection. The teams, selected by the Sports Information Directors of the GAC, Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA), and Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) vote on the teams.

The senior is fifth in the GAC with a 15.3 points per game average, 20th with a 5.5 rebounds per game average, first with a 5.0 assists per game average, and first in the league (and second nationally) with a 5.1 steals per game average.

With 149 steals this season and 275 career steals, Silva holds both the Tech and GAC single-season and career steals records.